NASCAR: Mayfield failed test again

Jeremy Mayfield has once again tested positive for methamphetamines, according to documents filed in court by NASCAR in an attempt to overturn a temporary injunction the driver was granted two weeks ago.

The 40-year-old tested positive for a second time on July 6, according to NASCAR, following his indefinite suspension, which arose form his first positive back in May when he was tested at Richmond.

The Sprint Cup Series veteran had succeeded in getting a temporary injunction from a judge, which allowed him to return to racing, but he has not been able to compete again due to lack of sponsorship for his own team and denials from other outfits to put him in their car.

"Within days of this Court's preliminary injunction, Mr. Mayfield flouted both this Court's authority and NASCAR's Substance Abuse Policy by ingesting the same illegal drug that he has repeatedly denied taking," said NASCAR in their court filing.

"By misleading this Court about his drug use, Mr. Mayfield has compromised NASCAR's ability to protect its drivers, crews and fans."

The same day Mayfield was last tested by NASCAR this month, the driver's attorney had a second sample tested at a different laboratory, and according to him, the results were negative as opposed to those of NASCAR's liaison.

But besides the positive test, NASCAR has also filed in its documentation an affidavit of Mayfield's stepmother Lisa, who claims in her testimony to know that the driver has used methamphetamines many times since 1998, including once before a race.

However, Mayfield has played down NASCAR's claims, while saying his stepmother's testimony doesn't say the truth.

"I don't trust anything NASCAR does, anything [substance abuse program administrator] Dr. David Black does, never have, never will," Mayfield told The Associated Press.

"And they picked the wrong woman to use against me because that [expletive] is trash and has got nothing on me but lies."

This week Mayfield also lost his last employee, his team's general manager Bobby Wooten, which makes it ever more unlikely that the five-time Sprint Cup Series race winner returns to the track soon, even if the court ruling stands in his favour.

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Ganassi in no hurry to fill Truex void

Chip Ganassi is in no rush to find a replacement for Martin Truex Jr after Michael Waltrip Racing announced it has signed him on a multi-year contract from 2010.

Truex joined the merger of Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing over the winter after being a DEI driver since 2003. However, this season has been a struggle for the 29-year-old, who has been outperformed by his team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya.

Ganassi says he understands Truex's "business" decision and wished him well on his move to MWR in 2010, while expecting him to continue to deliver for the reminder of the season in the #1 EGR car.

"Martin made a business decision that he felt was in his best interest and we can't fault him for that," Ganassi said. "Martin and the whole No. 1 team are committed to success for the remainder of the 2009 season and we would expect nothing less from them.

"Martin is a good guy and wish him nothing but the best. As for who will be in the car in 2010, there is a lot of time between now and the 2010 Daytona 500 and we are looking at all our options."

EGR started the season with three cars for Montoya, Truex and Aric Almirola, but the latter only ran in seven races before his team had to be shut down due to lack of sponsorship.

Montoya's team has secured funding from the outfit's long-time partner Target and other associate sponsors for the next few years, while Truex's car has sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops, which according to team sources is signed through 2010.

Ganassi says that despite the departure of Truex at the end of the year, the team's future looks bright, as Montoya's results have shown lately. The Colombian is currently 11th in the standings, with a clear shot at making the Chase, which would be the first for a Ganassi driver ever.

"We have a lot of great things going on right now in our organization - most importantly that our cars are running better," Ganassi added. "Montoya and the No. 42 are in the top-12 and we couldn't be more proud of him and the effort the whole organization has put forth in improving our performance on the track.

"I really think the future is bright."

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No tyre worries after Indy practice

Friday's NASCAR Sprint Cup practice sessions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway confirmed that the tyre issues that hampered last year's running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard have been finally solved.

Although no driver ran a full fuel run, which is about 34 laps, on the same set of tyres, according to Goodyear's Greg Stucker they were able to run up to 27 consecutive laps on a single set during Friday's opening session with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

His Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Jeff Gordon was one of several drivers who confirmed there were no issues with excessive wear despite the track still being green during Friday.

"I think the tyres are a non-issue," said Gordon, who ran around 20 laps on a single set on Friday. "I think we need to move to an all-new subject because it's done. They have created a great tyre. If anybody has an issue with tyres it's not because they're wearing out.

"[Goodyear has] done a great job, they've backed it up with testing and they've now proven it here at the racetrack where I think is the most crucial practice that we had. I could've probably ran all day long on one set of tyres if I wanted to."

Stucker said that despite all the preparation that took place for this year's race on Goodyear's side, he was still a bit nervous before a car turned a wheel during the opening practice at Indianapolis.

A total of seven tests were needed since last year's race for the tyre manufacturer to find the right specification of tyres for the unique combination of surface and layout that it faces at the 2.5-mile track.

"We thought we had asked ourselves all the questions, made sure we had all the answers," said Stucker. "Both of the last two tests were dressed rehearsals for this weekend and everything looked great.

"We felt like we ran on all kinds of different weather, under a lot of different conditions, green racetrack, with a lot of rain during the month of May and prior to that first June test.

"Nonetheless you're still a little bit apprehensive but that was all gone pretty quick when we saw the track take rubber right away."

Although there is a considerable chance of showers at Indy during the weekend, Goodyear officials were confident that even if all the rubber gets washed out before the race, there should not be a repeat of last year's issues.

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Kahne hoping to gain momentum

Kasey Kahne hopes his first win of the season will give him enough momentum to get back in the top 12 in the driver standings in order to make this year's Chase for the Sprint Cup.

The 29-year-old climbed to 13th place following his victory at Sears Point last weekend, with just three points separating him from 12th-placed Juan Pablo Montoya.

Kahne's team recently ran its new R6P8 Dodge engine for the first time and has had a boost in performance. Although he didn't run it last weekend at Sonoma, he believes that and his first victory of the season can set his team up for a string of good races to get into the hunt for this year's title.

"The timing is perfect because with 10 races to the Chase, we're right there in the mix," said Kahne. "We've been strong for the last month and really haven't had the results that we're looking for.

"But we have our newest, latest cars and our newest, latest engines. To me, it feels like February and we're about to start the season with all the new stuff that we have."

The Richard Petty Motorsports driver has only made the Chase once in his career, back in 2006 when he finished eighth in the championship with six victories. Last year, he finished the season in 13th place, just missing the cut.

Kahne hopes Petty's new engine, coupled with the lighter cars they've been running lately, can will help him to be among the title contenders come September.

"The [new] engine has more power; we just need to work on better fuel mileage when it comes to fuel mileage races," Kahne said. "We've been working hard on making that better and still having the power that we need."

"In the past couple of years, I'd say that we've been close with all that stuff, but we're always on the edge of making [the Chase] or not making it. We have to be strong here in the next five races and get more solidly in there than being right on the edge."

In the past, Kahne has won at four of the coming 10 tracks before the Chase starts.

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Petty open to manufacturer switch

Richard Petty has admitted that his team is considering all options for next year as its contract with Dodge expires at the end of the season.

Following the team's victory with Kasey Kahne at Sears Point, the first since Petty gave the former Gillett Evernham Racing a new name, the seven-time Sprint Cup champion said the team will look at every option they have for 2010 as its deal with Chrysler is up for renewal at the end of the year.

When asked about a possible switch to another manufacturer, after Chrysler recently filed for bankruptcy protection, Petty said his team is open to talks with anyone interested in supporting the squad's long-term future.

"We are looking at all options we have," said Petty. "We've been with Dodge all these years and we don't really know where they are at. We are talking to Dodge, we're talking to anybody that wants to talk.

"Right now, we are in the process of trying to come up with what we think is going to be best for Richard Petty Motorsports, not only in the near future but in the future way out there."

Petty's outfit is running a four-car operation, which also includes Dodge Chargers for Reed Sorenson, Elliot Sadler and AJ Allmendinger.

Petty has been through other recessions during more than 50 years in NASCAR and has seen manufacturers come and go, but he says the impact of the current downturn has been felt more than any before.

"We have been there when the factories were involved and the factories got out, and we've been through other recessions or whatever they want to call it, over a period of time. But none of them have affected us as directly as what's going on today," Petty said.

"Now, the way the economy is, it's affecting everybody. Whether you're in the limelight or wherever you're at, it's really affected everybody."

Although Petty has raced with other manufacturers in the past, his last name has been tied to Chrysler for many years, since Petty Motorsports ran Plymouths for his father Lee Petty in NASCAR's inaugural season.

Petty himself won his maiden Sprint Cup title driving a Plymouth in 1964.

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Kenseth seeks return to early form

Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth is hoping to regain the form he had at the beginning of the season, as he feels his Penske team's current performance could end up hampering its title chances.

The former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion claimed victory in the first two races of the season, but after leading the standings early on he currently ranks 10th in the drivers' points, and a fourth place at Dover has been his best result since then.

Although Kenseth says he does not keep a close eye on the standings on a weekly basis as the season is nine races away from starting the Chase for the Sprint Cup, he admits that if his team does not improve in the next few races, they could well be left out of the final 'play-off'.

"I look at the standings every few weeks or something, somebody will say where you're at. But, if you run good and you finish good, you'll get the points to make it to the Chase," Kenseth said.

"Certainly, it's a real big deal to make the Chase, and if you make it, you want to have a legitimate shot at a championship every year. We've been one of them the whole time. But, you want to get in, and we used to be really good at taking cars that didn't run that good and get better finishes than what we ran.

"But lately we've been doing the opposite of that for a long time, for the last couple of months, and that needs to stop and we need at least to get back to finishing where we run, and if we don't do that, we won't make it. I think we all realise that."

Kenseth reckons his team has to get back to its winning ways from the early part of the year, as otherwise he does not expect to be among the title contenders in the last ten races of the year.

"We haven't really been contenders to win races - there have been a couple of races where we ran pretty good - but we haven't been contenders to win races," said Kenseth.

"We've got to get running better to start with, but we've certainly got to get finishing better. Like, last week we ran 12th all week, which was nothing to be too excited about, and finished 22nd.

"We've been doing that a lot. Pocono, we ran third all day and finished 18th or something. We've got to figure out how to get that to stop. There's no way we're going to make it doing that."

Kenseth is currently just six points ahead of 12th placed Juan Pablo Montoya in the drivers' standings.

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Court lifts Mayfield suspension

Jeremy Mayfield has been allowed to return behind the wheel of a Sprint Cup Series car after getting his suspension for drug abuse lifted by a US court.

Mayfield had been suspended indefinitely from NASCAR after he allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine in a random drug test at Richmond in May, but on Wednesday he got a temporary injunction from a court in Charlotte that enables him to race again.

The 40-year-old will thus attempt to compete in next weekend's event at Daytona, although he admitted it could be a bit late for him to get his team ready for Thursday, when practice takes place for the Coke Zero 400.

"I'm happy I can go back racing and just glad the justice system works like it does and just thank God," said Mayfield. "It might be a little late for this weekend, but we'll see what happens. I'm able to race, that's the main thing. I think so now. I have to go back and see where we stand on that and where they are.

"The main thing is to be able to go back and be able to do that. The truth came out, and now I can go back and say we're clear of all this. I cleared my name, and now we can go racing again. That means more to me than anything."

Mayfield has denied taking methamphetamine, while saying since the very beginning that a combination of prescribed medicine and over-the-counter drugs resulted in a false positive result in the test.

The driver's defense argued in court that NASCAR did not follow the right procedures in testing Mayfield and had experts contesting the sanctioning body's conclusions about the results of his A sample test, which according to them were inconclusive.

In the court filings, judge Graham Mullen said that the financial harm to done to Mayfield preventing him from racing, substantially outweighs the potential harm to NASCAR.

NASCAR officials stood by their arguments while respecting the court ruling. However, they plan to continue to fight Mayfield's case in the courts.

"We are disappointed, but we respect the judge's ruling," said NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston. "This is only a temporary injunction. The legal case continues beyond this point, and we will continue to make our case."

Mayfield started his own team this year and qualified for the season-opener at Daytona back in February.

After that he qualified for four more races, but since being suspended he had been forced to withdraw his team from competition, only attempting one more race with driver JJ Yeley at Charlotte. A number of crew members were also laid off from his team as a consequence.

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